Shipping crate for livestock



A. o. MANGER EIAL SHIPPING CRATE FOR LIVESTOCK April 15, 1952 2 SHEET S-SHEET 1 Filed Dec. 50, 1948 IN VEN TORS. 1 Giza/0J7 April 1952 A. o. MANGER ETAL SHIPPING CRATE FOR LIVESTOCK 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1948 I11 I In Ill-l .II [I ll #:lllllllli 'ubr Patented Apr. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES PAT ETN'T O'F F I-C Ei SHIPPING CRATE FOR LIVESTOCK Arthur fl Manger PhiIadeIphia; Pa., and Edward A. TomliinJix, Hampton, Conn, assignors, by

mesne assignments, to Rathborne, Hair &':Rid'g.- way Box 60., Chicago, 111:, a corporation of Illinois Application December 30, 1948, Serial No". 68,196

G'Glaims;

This invention relates to improvements in shipping containers orcratesfor livestock. More particularly, it pertains to a shipping crate for livestock having an improved type of removable feed and water trough combination andthe provision'of' such structure is a principal object of the invention:

More specifically; the invention has to do with a wire bound shipping crate for livestock, especiallypoultry, with a removable longitudinal partition arranged along the floor of the crate between its end walls and in adiacently spaced relation with respect tonne of the side walls to provide" a feed trough and a removable transverse partition whose ends are mounted in slots or'apertures in the side wall structure the transverse partition being; slotted interlockingly' to engage the longitudinal partition to hold the latter in" erect and spaced apart position with respect totheadj'acentsidewall.

Another object of the invention" is to providea crate such asthat above described wherein there: is utilized-in combination with the removable partition a removable watering; troughdisposed between one of the" sidewalls and' the longitudinal partition w-hiclr provides the feed trough-with a transverse partition which is slot tedinterlockingly to engage the longitudinal partition andalsoa wall of thewatering trough to hold both the trough and the longitudinal pa-rtition' in position.

Other, objects of the invention will inpart be obvious and will in part 'app'ear hereinafter.

For a fuller understanding" of the nature and objects of the inventi'onreference should be had to thefollowing detailed descriptiontaken in connection withthe accompanying-- drawings, in

which:

Fig; 1"'is a perspective View, partially" broken away; illustrating a wire bound' shipping crateembodying the feed and i water trougli arrangement of the present invention;

2-'is a pl'an, view of the structure shown in. Fig: 1 and 'lar conventional: crate: of this type: is: the: wire.

bound. shippin crater which. needs: no: detaileddescriptions. Such: a crate; is shown in Fig. I wh'erein twood .slatslorz pieces of; veneer are .bound shown end walls I'l provided by spaced apart horizontally disposed slats, a bottom 12 also provided by slats, or. broad veneer: sheets of board material, closely abutting each other, andall of which are secured together by longitudinally spaced apart wires l3 held to the? slats inany suitable manner such as, for examplebymeans' The above mentioned mitered cleats secured to the, mat are shown at M and I5.

The cover; shown generally at US, is a continua'tion of: the: mat" and is; of similar construction to thebottom; The: wires 13 extend around the corner and are'secured thereto by" means of staples; of the wires; connected thereto can be made to 'engage loopss IT in the other ends: ofv the wire upwardly projecting from the end walls to secure the cover in closed position;

The side walls I8 are provided by vertically disposed spaced apart slats providing apertures secured-together by-atop side wallstrip l9; nailed 'or otherwise secured to the vertical slats, and a bottom side' wall piece 20' similarly secured to the bottom of the-vertical slats; The side walls are affixedl tothe inner sides of the cleats I4 and, [5- in anysuitable manner such as by nailing them: thereto;

Crates" of the foregoing; type: have been used for transporting: livestock. and; in; particular, poultry; and it has long been recognized thatan improved: adaptation. of. such a: crate'which would embody f eed and water, troughs: as"v a part of thestructurerwould't be a distinct advantage. Such a construction is provided byrmeans of. the presenti invention.

The? improvement? oil. the present invention will be. seen-tin. the: provision: of? a novel. type; of"

structural arrangement of transverse partitions indicated generally" at 21 and of: a longitudinal partition indicated: generally at 221. The longitudinal' partition consists of a removable strip or slat 231 arranged along the' floor or bottom [-2 of the crate between the end walls and-preferably adjacently spaced from oneof the sides walls. This: strip is inno wise affixedto" the end walls or bottom by nailing or: in; any other manner: to

Sections of such mat are folded The; cover is thus: hinged and: the endsmake it a permanent part of the structure. In its spaced apart position it provides a feed trough along one wall although it will be apparent that such feed troughs can be provided along opposite side walls. The other wall of the feed trough, that is, the strip or slat 20, is the structure permanently secured to the bottoms of the verticaly disposed slats which comprise the side walls I8. Preferably the slats 20 are broader than the top slats 19 along the ends of the vertical slats forming the side walls l8 and are of a width commensurate with the slat 23.

To maintain the slat 23 in spaced apart relation with respect to the slat 20, there is utilized a novel structural arrangement of transverse or cross partition above referred to as being indicated generally at 21. This preferably comprises two spaced apart slats 24 and 25 nailed or otherwise secured to vertical pieces or legs 26 disposed inwardly from the marginal edges of the slats 24 and 25. The lower slat 25 has a slot or cut-out portion 21. It also has a cut-out section removed from one end to provide a depending elements 28 which fits into the trough area provided by the longitudinal partition 23 spaced from the wall section or fixed slat 20. The ends of the slats 24 and 25, because of the last named cut-out portion, are of a length such that they will project between the spaced apart vertical slats forming the side walls 18 to hold the transverse partition, or partitions, in position.

It will be seen that the transverse partitions can readily be put in place because of their flexibility and this is done in such a manner that the slots 21 in the slat 25 on the transverse partition engages the vertically arranged longitudinal partition 23 thereby holding it in spaced apart relation with respect to the slat 20 to provide the above described feed trough. Obviously, the transverse partition need not be made of slats but can be made of a single piece or any other suitable arrangement of parts which will accomplish the function of a separating transverse partition as well as an interlocking arrangement to hold the vertically disposed longitudinal partition 23 in place.

' There is also provided one or more removable water troughs 29 which are placed within the feed troughs 22. Preferably these consist of rectangularly shaped receptacles having bottom, side and end walls. They may be placed in the feeding trough in such a manner that the legs 26 of the transverse partition extend downwardly therein to rest on the bottom wall and hold it against the floor of the crate. Also, one of the side walls of the water trough will enter the slot 21 together with the feed trough slat 23 in such a manner that both water trough and feed trough walls are interlockingly engaged by the transverse partition. The slot 2'! will be of such width so that it will easily engage both the longtiudinal partition or slat 23 and the wall of the watering trough without binding. This will permit the water troughs to be moved back and forth, to the extent of their end walls so as evenly to divide the watering area and feeding area between partitions and facilitate an even distribution of feed and water.

There are many advantages to the improvement embodied in the present construction. Such a crate with the present feed and water trough arrangement will assemble easily because all parts are so fabricated as to be combined and folded into one strong unit without the addition of staples, wires, or nailing of any kind other than the wires which are part of the mat. The partitions are so constructed as to provide maximum strength without additional bracing. The watering trough preferably is made of wax paper but may be made of plastic, glass, metal, rubber, or any other suitable material. The water trough and the feed trough are held solely in position by the upright transverse partition because of the interlocking engagement of the slotted portion of the bottom strip of the latter. This arrangement permits ready feeding and watering of livestock regardless of distances, and also permits easy access for replacement of feed or water en route. The transverse partitions keep the stock from crowding and thereby substantially reducing the danger of smothering. Several varieties of livestock can be shipped in one crate with each variety being kept separate, thereby tending considerably to eliminate physical damage to the stock. The partitions divide the stock load into smaller units and prevent the entire weight of the contents of the crate from shifting from one section to another.

It will thus be seen that the objects hereinbefore set forth can readily and efliciently be attained, and since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a shipping container for livestock having secured-together pairs of side and end walls, a floor and a cover member, the improvement comprising a removable longitudinal partition arranged along said floor between the end walls and resting directly on said floor in spaced relation with respect to the side walls to provide a feeding trough, and a removable transverse partition spaced above said floor, theends of which are mounted in apertures in the side walls, said transverse partition being slotted and interlockingly engaging at the slot thereof said longitudinal partition to hold the same in erect and spaced apart position with respect to said side walls.

2. In a shipping crate for livestock having secured-together pairs of side and end walls, a floor and a cover member, the improvement comprising a removable longitudinal partition arranged along said floor between the end walls and in adjacently spaced relation with respect to one of the side walls to provide a feeding trough, a removable watering trough comprising a container having bottom, side and end walls disposed between said one side wall and said longitudinal partition, a removable transverse partition whose ends are mounted in apertures in the side walls, said transverse partition being slotted and interlockingly engaging at the slot thereof said longitudinal partition and also an adjacent side wall of said watering trough, thereby to hold said longitudinal partition and said trough in position.

3. In a poultry shipping crate having securedtrough.

* tition having iglegs secured thereto inwardly to the ends thereof, said ends projecting between said spaced fapart slats constituting said side walls, a watering trough having bottom, end and side walls located between said longitudinal partition and saidjcrate side wall, one of said partition legs restii'i on said bottom trough wall to trough, the bottom of said crate constituting the bottom of said feed trough, a separate watering trough disposed in said feed trough, and a transverse partition member disposed normal to said 1 first named partition member, said trans-verse partition member being releasably engaged with said first named member and said watering trough.

6. A shipping crate comprising pairs of opposed, apertured side and end walls and a bottom, a feed trough extending longitudinally be- I tween one pair of said Walls comprising an elonhold it against: the floor of said crate, and said transverse partitions being slotted to interlockingly engage said watering trough and also said longitudinal partition inwardly of the ends of the latter, therebyf to hold the longitudinal partition vertically and :Lin parallel spaced apart position 7 with respect tofsaid one side wall and to maintain said watering'ftrough in position in the feed 4. A shippinf crate comprising pairs of optom, a trough'fextending longitudinally between partition member disposed between said one pair posed, apertur'e'd side and end walls and a bot- .1"

T25 one pair of said walls comprising an elongated of walls and resting upright directly on said botof walls, the bottom of said crate constituting the member disposed normal to said first named partition member and in spaced relation above tom in laterally, spaced relation to the other pair I.

-30 bottom of said trough, and a transverse partition the bottom of the crate, said transverse partition member being releasably engaged with said first named member.-

5. A shipping crate comprising pairs of op- I posed, apertured side and end walls and a botin laterally spaced relation to the other pair of walls, a wall of-'; said other pair having an elongated upright rri'ember secured thereto in parallel. laterally spacedirelation to said first named member and coacting with the latter in defining said gated partition member disposed between said one'pair of walls and resting upright on said bottom in laterally spaced relation to the other pair of walls. a wall of said other pair having an elongated upright member secured thereto in parallel, laterally spaced relation to said first named member and coacting with the latter in defining said trough, the bottom of said crate constituting the bottom of said feed trough, a separate watering trough disposed in said feed trough and a transverse partition member disposed normal to said first named partition member and extending through the aperturing of said walls, said transverse partition member being provided with a slot of sufiicient width to enable the same to be releasably engaged with said first named member and said watering trough and thereby hold the same in place.

ARTHUR o. EDWARD A. TOMLIN, JR. 7

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 241,934 Cooley May 24, 1881 1,055,132 Canup Mar. 4, 1913 1,749,377 Eubanks Mar, 4, 1930 1,784,187 Imler Dec. 9, 1930 1,993,112 Patterson Mar. 5, 1935 2,268,637 Bernstein Jan. -6, 1942 2,422,438 Richards June 17, 1947 

